The Lion and the Fox: Two Rival Spies and the Secret Plot to Build a Confederate Navy By Alexander Rose (Mariner Books, 288 pages, $29) The Lion and the Fox is not a John le Carré spy thriller. But it…
History is a bit like Otto von Bismarck’s famous line about sausages and laws, which, he said, no one should watch being made. Think of all the people you’ve seen in pictures and statues or on coins and currency. Consider…
The Biden Defense Department’s Orwellian “Naming Commission,” created by Congress in 2021, has recommended that the Navy Department rename the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville, which recently transited the dangerous Taiwan Strait, because it memorializes the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville…
To the Uttermost Ends of the Earth: The Epic Hunt for the South’s Most Feared Ship and the Greatest Sea Battle of the Civil War By Phil Keith with Tom Glavin (Hanover Square Press, 316 pages, $30) The horrendous American…
April 6-7, 2022, marks the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh, a furious struggle fought in southwestern Tennessee. Author Larry J. Daniel called it “the battle that changed the Civil War.” The total American casualties (dead, wounded, captured, and…
Robert E. Lee: A Life Allen C. Guelzo (Knopf, 608 pages, $35) “Who’s that man on the horse?” I asked my father at a young age. “That’s Lee — he led the South in the Civil War.” He gave me…
Old Town is a historic corner of Alexandria, Virginia, rich with historic homes inhabited by many of Washington, D.C.’s managing class. Alexandria voted overwhelmingly for President Joe Biden in 2020. During the campaign, Trump lawn signs were a challenge to…
You might call it being hoist on your own petard. The move is on, as is known, to change the names of American military bases that are named for Confederate generals. The New York Times, among many others on the…
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger said the Corps will remove “Confederate paraphernalia” from its facilities. Exactly what is covered remains unclear, but the directive marks a dramatic change in the military’s relationship with the nation’s most costly and personal…